Happy Birthday Bro'

Today's Tony's birthday. He'll never see this but I wanted to post it anyway. His Dad took him & Kaisara out last night to Ruth's Chris for fancy-dancy steak dinner. I heard it was delicious! Happy Birthday, Tony!

btw: He's still's got that same smile.

The Power of the Tax Right Off

A few years ago I worked for the month of December at Crap-Ann's. It had to be done. I didn't have work & December's a great month for temp. retail work. Anyway, I survived & so did they.

While there I got a super great Rowenta iron. Normally 90 bucks, I got it for like $25 or something with employee discount & coupons, etc. Rowenta's are great irons. A great iron is an important thing for someone like me. It cracks me up that most of my friends don't even own one. ANYwho...Zelda bumped my ironing board & the thing came crashing down 1 too many times (yes, it happened more than once). About a month or so after the last crash-landing the bloody thing started leaking. NOT acceptable when working on silk & the like. I figured the thing broke 'cause of my dumb dog & it's been over a year since the purchase date so, whatever. I have a spray bottle that mists well. That was at least 6 months ago. I've not worked on certain things several times due to the lack of a steaming iron. How can I be so cheap & in my line of work not to just go out & buy a new one? I amaze even me with my cheap-ness. Wow, this is a long post about a dumb iron. Anyway. I remembered today that I can write off the cost of a new one. Sweet! I headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond armed with my 20% off coupon. And what's this? A left over gift card from Christmas with $6-ish on it? Yeah! SO, I got a new Rowenta normally $49.99 for $36.18. Did I mention it came with a rebate for a $15 Bed, Bath & Beyond gift card?
Awesome! I've got steaming capabilities againAND mad bargain shopping skills.

A Little Update-y Matey

Well, here it is. I want to jab my eyes out. There you go. Read it & weep. Out they come.

Since my gig at UCI ended early I called my office work gal, Vera. She was thrilled. She sent me to an on-site office that no one has been there filing for a year. Scary. The property manager was told that I knew the ropes & would take care of everything. Scary. I get there & there's 8 file drawers & 3 cubicles filed with garbage-ito. Scary. One problem (of several) is that this lady's managing at least 5 buildings that all have several names. "Which name do want printed on your file labels?", I ask. Insert her blank stare here... She gave me a 1"x 1 1/2" post-it note with four little things written on it. Insert my blank stare here... An hour later, I ask if I can have a pen. She gives me a (meaning one, singular) writing implement. Another hour later (& I'm really getting reved up by now) I hold up my little piece of post-it note & ask if I can have something larger to write on as I'm trying to get a grasp of this 5 buildings each with 4 different names thing. I kid you not. She gets up & hands me a, (meaning one, singular) piece of paper. Sure glad she didn't throw her back out. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Who is this lady?!?!?! Finally at about 3pm I ask "Where's the restroom?" Come on!! I shiver at the thought of her having house guests. She probably doesn't even feed them. Is she for real? I didn't have a computer, printer nothin'. Okay lady, I'll get right on this. Insert me giving a big ol', righteous, raspberry here.

It's not that it's office work & not sewing. I like to organize. I'm good at it. I get things done. Burn some rubber, ya' know? You want your crap organized? BAM! There you go. It's just this office itself. No one talks to one another. I am utterly convinced that most of the people there don't even no the names of most of the other people there. And this lady! I think I've gotten a dozen words out of her. And each one she makes me feel guilty for. And they're all work related! I'm really holding myself back in there! You know me! I'm a talkter! Oi! But I digress, I'll continue..

She was only there for 2 days then off to vacation for a week in Maui (poor baby). Sweet. Now I can really do my thing. During that time I got the 8 file drawers dealt with (all sorted, color coded & labeled beautifully). As well as made a huge dent in the cubicles. I'm talking papers dating back to 1989 people! She comes back today. Guess her response...wait for it...here it comes...a big fat NADA! Now, I know I need more positive affirmation than the next guy but I wasn't expecting that, let alone looking for it from this girl. But come on! Not a, "Wow! This looks great!",or a "It's really coming along.", or "Thanks for all of this.", or even a "Kiss my a**!" She didn't even say good morning. I finally did and asked her how her trip was. She says, and I quote, "Awesome. It sucks to be back." I just smiled & said, "Well that's a great way to look at it!" and continued my task. I can't wait to go back tomorrow!

It's Your Birthday, Thanks for the Gift

Happy Birthday to my best friend, Cat. Sure her birthday's almost over as it's 10:30 at night but it's still her birthday. I just came home from Sewing Circle at which absolutely no sewing was done. We just sat around, chatted, had birthday goodies & enjoyed each other's company. Oh yeah, and Cat gave me my birthday/Christmas present. It rocks. I got a page-a-day calendar (calendars are our traditional Christmas gift) & Fung "Shoe" book & last but not least, a blue velvet cape in which she hand embroidered my super hero name: The Amazing Catherine. It's sweet. And it's interchangeable between me, Kathy & Cat. Handy!

Happy Birthday, Friend! I love my presents

They Can't Be Trusted

Twice now I've used a pedometer to track my walking when Google's pedometer would have been too difficult. The first time was when we went to Magic Mountain. It read 7.8 miles. Really? Okay, but it didn't seem that far. Must have been 'cause I was having such a great time I didn't realize my feet should have been tired. Today I took a group of girls to the garment district. I wore the pedometer again. In fact I wore 2. One on each hip. After walking around the area for a bit we headed home. One pedometer read over three miles (doubtful), the other read .05 miles. Okay, now I KNOW that's wrong. These are even ones that you enter your stride length & weight & stuff. Still obvisously totally inaccurate. ANYHOOO, I did some more shopping & stuff today so I kept the higher reading one on (hey, I'm no fool). All in all it says I walked 6.8 miles. Again, doubtful. I'm going to be generous to my self though & only round down to 6 miles for the day (to make up for all the little bit's here & there that I do during the day just as part of life but don't calculate into my 2007 goal). This gets my weekly total to 15 miles. I finished February on target & March is starting out great!

Yahoo! You're 2!

Happy Birthday to my godson Elijah. He's a wonderful little boy and a great big brother to new comer Miles. Happy birthday kiddo!

No Much Going On

I've been working some overtime at UCI this week so there hasn't been much to blog about nor the time to blog it. Here's an update or sorts:

I ended February with 4.4 miles over my 10 miles per week goal. This is due to going to Magic Mountain last weekend and carpooling with Kaisara to work. Depending on the time in the morning, he drops me off at different points and I walk the rest of the way to the costume shop. Only once have we been early enough for me to walk from the 405. That's 2.9 miles but sure seems like it should be further. Kaisara offers to drop me off at the door but I try to get in my miles this way. We're also saving on me paying for parking at work. UCI doesn't pay for their employees' parking. $44 per month. I think not. That's almost 2 1/2 hours of work just to park. It's better for me, our bank account, and the environment by the way, for me to walk. So walk I shall.

My gig at UCI has been great. The manager, Vera, is awesome. She LOVES her job. She lets us know when we need to put our heads down & crank stuff out and she later lets us know how great we did & how much she appreciates our work. There is an opening for full-time employment there but I've decided not to apply. I don't think I could handle working with cynical grad students and all of their angst on a permanent basis. Bummer, the money's good and the benefits would be to die for. I'll enjoy my freelancing some more.

Of course, I am so good I've sewed myself out of work. We were supposed to work today after working late all this week. But no, we're done until after the first dress (Monday night). So I've sewed myself out of overtime today & there's no need for me to go in Monday since we won't have any notes by then. It really is a curse being so gifted. HaHaHaHaHa!

Vera's said she has work for me through Friday, March 9th but after that's an unknown. I'm not back at SCR 'til April 17th. Yikes! over a month with no pay. Again, the joys of freelancing. Not worried though. God will provide. He always does.

Well rather than working today & making the big bucks at time-and-a-half, I'm off to do a ton of laundry & perhaps work some on my dead soldier. It's getting nearer to completion.